Live Concert Review – Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – Title Tracks – the Grog Shop – Cleveland, OH – March 11, 2010

By Patrick Leigh
Published: March 15, 2010
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The pride and joy of South Bend Indiana, Ted Leo has been an indie rock hero for roughly a decade. He further added to his repertoire with the release of his critically acclaimed new album, ‘The Brutalist Bricks’ (3.9.10; Matador Records). After playing an intimate solo set at the B-Side Liquor Lounge last time through town, Ted chose Cleveland to kick off his two month trek with his longtime band, the Pharmacists, on Thursday (3.11.10) at The Grog Shop with a 90 minute set complete with a healthy dose of tracks off his latest release and some pleasant surprises.

No tour starts off without glitches. A few technical bugs bit Ted and his guitar mid-set, but this failed to dampen the energy of the near capacity crowd. The fine citizens of Cleveland and Ted Leo have a mutual love for each other, which was evident throughout the night. Leo tweeted the afternoon of his set:

“Finally on the road... to Cleveland. Rarely been so excited to get in a van and just be ‘still’ for a while – what an insane few weeks!”

One must really love the opportunity to perform for one’s fans to be “excited” about the tough life of traversing the country in a van.


Ted and company got the party started with “Heart Problems” off of 2004’s ‘Shake the Streets’ before quickly diving into new material with the sneaky, snaky bass line groove of “Mourning in America.” With Leo bouncing and hopping around the stage, the band jumped into the strong, album opening, “The Mighty Sparrow.” After addressing the aforementioned guitar issues and busting out a few chords from Bob Seger’s “Against the Wind,” he made a comment about karaoke taking place in the basement, a foreshadow of a surprise that would come later in the evening.

More new tracks, “Avitar Hands,” “Even Heroes Have to Die,” and “The Stick” led to a raucous version of a hit off 2003's ‘Hearts of Oak’ titled “Where Have All The Good Boys Gone.” This was a crowd pleasing, fist pumping, singalong for all.

“Give yourself a round of applause after that,” Leo told the packed house, who were waiting on his every word this unseasonably warm Thursday night.

He then teased the crowd with a few bars of AC/DC's classic, “Dirty Deeds” and asked if anyone knew the words. (It was at this exact moment I regretted not getting that AC/DC set that I recently saw and joked about getting, but what can you do?) Not one person in the crowd could provide the vocals, so...

“Karaoke will have to wait until later, maybe,” Ted hinted...and the show went on. 

“There was resolution pending on the United Nations floor,” is not the typical opening line to any song, and one may think it could never work. But put in the right hands of someone like Ted Leo, it works perfectly on “Bottle in Cork,” one of the stronger efforts on ‘The Brutalist Bricks.’

Turns out all the hype of karakoe finally came to fruition. Someone out there either knew or googled (thank you iPhone!) the lyrics to “Dirty Deeds” and was up for becoming a stand-in-frontman.  The band itself nailed the song as well as a band not named AC/DC can, but back to the guest star (who's name I failed to obtain)… The kid nailed it! Well, maybe not “nailed it,” be he knew all the words, worked the crowd, and shared the mic with both the audience and Ted. It was one of the more fun moments of rock-and-roll that I've ever witnessed and you bet your ass I was jealous I never learned the lyrics to that song. Would have made this review that much better!

After a short break, Ted Leo jumped back on stage for an encore to strum thru a tune before the rest of the band joined in and helped finish off the evening with a few more numbers, even taking a request. (But not without having to ask an audience member for a hand!) “What was that line again?” I heard from just to the left of the stage.  A great set surely kicked up the excitement for this tour for the band. Ted was even back on his twitter feed after the show, clearly impressed with the crowd:

“AND, holy Cleveland - you guys, as an audience, were better than even BOTH of your buildings! Thanks for helping us rise to the occasion!” 

Title Tracks, hailing from Washington DC, kicked off the evening’s festivities. The band ripped thru about a half hour set of jams, giving off a very heavy Elvis Costello like vibe and entertaining the anxious crowd.   With just one album under their belts, Title Tracks filled in their set with a few covers, including the set ending “Security,” by Otis Redding, who is one of their influences according to the band's MySpace page.  Very good energy coming from the stage with them, easy to listen to, and clearly prepping for a few sets at SXSW next week where they will more than likely turn some heads.